UPDATE 4/1- This is not an April fools prank:

UPDATE 4/13- Florida HB 7047 Amended to remove the deregulation of Florida Registered Interior Designers.

Currently Florida House Bill 7047  and Senate Bill 802 which seek to eliminate all legislation and practice rights regarding Florida Registered Interior Design, and the practice thereof, are working their way through committees in Tallahassee.  All indications are that the anti-regulationists, with the governor’s backing, have the upper hand in seeing this bill through and on to the governor’s desk for signature.

If you found this site on a general search I hope you are here to see how you can help the Interior Design profession defend its  hard-earned right to practice to the fullest extent of our knowledge and abilities.  Here are some sites that are focused on rallying designers;

Interior Design Association of Florida

IIDA & ASID Petition

If you are a member of ASID or IIDA I encourage you to get involved via the advocacy arms of those organizations.

There is a swell of interest and support for deregulation of occupational and professional legislation.  Unfortunately the practice of code regulated Interior Design often gets lumped in with those occupations which arguably present a good case for government over-reach.  I am not here to argue the politics of this issue or the merit of whether sports agents or auctioneers should be licensed.  But it is helpful to understand the various forces at play here.  On one hand you have the Libertarians who see any and all regulation as a hindrance to free and open markets.  While theirs is a very broad stance against regulation in general Interior Design licensure and legislation seems to be a favorite target, or prime example, of the problems and limitations caused by onerous regulations. Here are 2 recent examples that illuminate their position;

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/columnists/os-ed-roll-back-occupational-licensing-laws-20170313-story.html

and this Huffington Post Op-Ed from 2015 that is a classic example of how the anti-regulationists present the profession of Interior Design;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hilary-gowins/dolly-decorator-or-how-to_b_6951422.html 

HOWEVER ON THE OTHER HAND is there is a less pronounced, but far more focused force behind the deregulation of Interior Design…the American Institute of Architects.

There is much to discuss with this particular opponent to our legislative goals.  Suffice it to say that if we did not have to deal with the AIA’s direct or indirect support of deregulating Interior Design legislation our path to licensure would be far less contentious.  If you work with an AIA member you may want to ask them why they support the deregulation and ultimately the deprofessionalization of Interior Design.

I would be curious to know their answer.  I suspect the majority of AIA’ers are unaware that their professional organization supports such efforts.

The nuances between qualified/certified Interior Designers who practice in code regulated building design projects, shoulder to shoulder with other licensed design professionals, and the thousands of others, from the classically trained to the self-proclaimed, who perform work that does not require a building permit, are virtually impossible to understand. It is that very fine and ill defined line that the anti-regulationists, and the AIA, use to confuse lawmakers and lead them to believe that we have no business performing code regulated design work that directly impacts the Health, Safety and Welfare of the public. We (the code regulated ID’ers) have to do a much better job of defining the difference between residential designer/decorators (not that there is anything wrong with that) and certified ID’ers who are educated, trained and vetted by examination to design within code regulated building environments.

MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT…FLORIDA HOUSE BILL 7074, IF PASSED, WILL SEVERELY LIMIT ALL CERTIFIED INTERIOR DESIGNERS RIGHT TO WORK TO THE FULLEST OF OUR KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITY. SINCE FLORIDA IS SUCH A KEY STATE IN THIS REGARD THOSE OF YOU IN OTHER STATES WITH ID LEGISLATION, BE THAT TITLE OR PRACTICE ACT, NEED TO PAY ATTENTION- YOU MAY BE NEXT.

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